Boston, February 8, 2013. Today, without any notice to defense counsel or the defendants, Suffolk County prosecutors went into court and in an unscheduled, unilateral action dismissed the criminal cases that had been brought against five Occupy Boston activists which were scheduled to begin trial on Monday, February 11. The prosecutors also dismissed all of the criminal charges remaining against the other Occupy Boston activists who were still awaiting trial as a result of the mass police arrests in October and December, 2011. We believe that the DA’s decision amounts to an acknowledgment of the unconstitutionality of the arrests and criminal charges that had been brought against hundreds of Occupy Boston participants, and shows that the state has finally admitted that the demonstrations by Occupy activists were legal and constitutionally protected.

Fully ready to contest the charges at trial, the defendants and their representatives from the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) had subpoenaed Mayor Menino, Police Commissioner Ed Davis, and Nancy Brennan (former head of the Greenway Conservancy) to explain why the City of Boston and its police department unconstitutionally applied the Massachusetts trespass and unlawful assembly laws to impinge upon Occupy Boston participants’ rights to assemble, to express their protected speech, and to petition the government. In addition, they had also subpoenaed Joshua Bekenstein and Mitt Romney (of Bain Capital), and Robert Gallery (CEO of Bank of America) to address their role in constructing and perpetuating excessive corporate power and an economic system that favors the wealthiest 1% of the population at the expense of the remaining 99%– an undemocratic system in which the voices of the people are ignored. The police action in arresting occupiers demonstrated that voices of conscience that speak out against social and economic inequality are not only ignored, they are unlawfully silenced by the state’s use of violence, fear, threat, and repression.

This decision by prosecutors comes after 14 months of delay, during which defendants were repeatedly required to show up for court dates, only to have their day in court and their right to a jury trial delayed time after time. Defendants and their NLG lawyers spent months working to prepare a case that would potentially embarrass the City and set valuable precedent that would reaffirm the constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. In making this decision, Suffolk County prosecutors have not only prevented the defendants from having their day in court, they have employed yet another way to trample upon those who voice dissent and discouraged them from challenging injustice and inequality in this country. In fact, a spokesperson from the District Attorney’s office today admitted that these defendants, who never had the chance to present their case to a judge or jury, “served a sentence” imposed unilaterally by the actions of the District Attorney without ever having been found guilty of any criminal offense.

On Saturday, August 4th don your finest business attire and join us at 11:30 at Dewy Square to raise money for our poor fellow citizens. Subsisting only upon record profits and a few billion $$ in US subsidies, how else can our friends in the oil industry afford to invest in innovative new technologies like arctic drilling, tar sands expansion, and hydro-fracking?

They can’t without our support. Last year you donated $35*, but it’s just not enough. We must encourage other people to give, and to give more. Please join us to encourage others to give more as well. Feel to bring pastries for profiteers, pancakes to raise particulates, brownies to buoy bitumen, and cookies to support the Keystone XL.

Think about it this way, when you make $137 billion, $11 billion in subsidies is just not that much.

We have to let people know that these businesses couldn’t make it with out people like us.

*Estimate for how much each person has “gave” on average in tax subsidies last year.

The Boston Fare Strike Coalition would like to invite you to a public meeting this Thursday, July 19th, at 6pm by the Boston Common Gazebo. In case of rain we will meet in the City Place food court, across Boylston St, down the alley passed Sweet Water Tavern on the first floor of the Transportation Building.

1) discuss and reflect on the Fare Strike campaign thus far. What has worked? What can we do better?

2) plan future actions. Up for discussion will be the idea of making “Fare Free Fridays” a regularly recurring action as well as other types of actions.

3) Connect with the Boston Fare Strike Coalition and other transit activists and get involved in the struggle.

Come help us to build a vibrant and creative movement, rooted in direct action and a radical analysis, to combat austerity and privatization, and to defend the people’s right to affordable, accessible, (and expanded) public transit.